In a typically control system, it is desirable to possess an ability to configure and program various devices within the control system. One way, to provide the ability to configure and program devices, is to employ a software application or tool. For instance, today many configurable components or devices of automation control systems are supported by a mixture of various device-specific, data-specific, and/or network-specific application tools.
Due to the inconvenience of utilizing multiple disparate tools to configure and control various devices, attempts have been made to fully integrate devices into control, engineering, and/or asset management systems. One such attempt involves hard coding device specific knowledge into a host software application. Thus, the host software application has explicit knowledge of all details related to a data model, feature set, and communications supported by each device.
Another attempt is FDT/DTM, which is a standard for organizing interfaces between a software tool and software (e.g., firmware) associated with a device. A standardized interface can be provided by a Field Device Tool (FDT) and a device developer employs Device Type Manager (DTM) to enable access to the device via the standard FDT interface. With FDT/DTM, functionality of a device, with respect to a software application accessing the device, is determined by a manufacturer of the device. The ability to add new functionality associated with a device rests solely with the device manufacturer. In addition, the presentation of device functionality is determined by DTM and a user interface adheres to a DTM style guide.
Another standard is Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL). For each device, there is a specific electronic device description (EDD) corresponding therewith that specifies functions associated with the device. Device functionality, however, is restricted to functions expressed in the standard. Additional functionality requires proprietary plug-ins.
As is evident from the above descriptions, hard coding device specific knowledge into host software applications requires redevelopment of the host software applications as new classes and/or new versions of device are released. EDT/DTM requires device manufacturers to conform to a specific standard interface. Additional functions and/or features need to be accessible via the standard interface, thus, limiting design of new features. With EDDL, device manufacturers are restricted to a set of standardized functions and structures.